EVANSVILLE – A late miscue came back to haunt the University of Evansville baseball team on Wednesday night as the Purple Aces dropped a 5-4 decision to visiting Murray State at Charles H. Braun Stadium.
The Aces (13-27) led for much of the contest, but the tide would turn late as the Racers (20-21) scored in each the sixth and seventh innings to level matters at 4-4 before an error on a pop fly to short with two outs resulted in the eventual game-winning run.
UE attempted to mount a response in the bottom half of the frame, but the attempted rally was cut short on impressive defensive play by MSU's middle infield as Kipp Moore and Caleb Hicks linked up after a Korbin Williams lineout for a double play to end the game.
Williams actually put the Aces on the board early with a first inning solo-blast that cleared the wall in left field with ease, but the lead would evaporate two innings later as a pair of errors resulted in two runs for the visitors out of the Ohio Valley Conference. It was MSU's turn to commit an error in the bottom half, as Trey Hair, who reached first on a hit-by-pitch, advanced two bases on a failed pickoff before Travis Tokarek doubled him home.
Tokarek, who ended 1-for-1 with a pair of RBI, has now reached base successfully in 13 consecutive games.
A Tokarek sac fly and Andrew Tanous RBI groundout pushed the Aces ahead a final time in the fifth.
Alex Weigand earned the start for the Aces on the mound and gave up three runs (two earned) on five hits while striking out a career-best eight over six innings. Ryan Brady surrendered an unearned score in the seventh, and Brandon Gomer gave up just one hit and struck out four over his 1.1 innings of work. Hunter Porterfield (0-1) was pegged with the hard-luck loss in the ninth.
Meanwhile, MSU was led by Lawrence Tyler's 3-for-4 performance as the team out-hit the Aces 8-4. After starter Trevor McMurray gave up all four runs in the first 4.1 frames, the Racer bullpen of Tyler Horsley, Justin Perkins, Blake Clynes and Alec Whaley combined to hold UE hitless from there on out.
The Aces will return to action on Friday with the first of three games against Missouri Valley Conference leaders Missouri State. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m.
NOTES: Since 1978, UE is 30-12 against Murray State … In that time, UE is 114-88-2 against schools from the state of Kentucky … UE is 1-6 against the Ohio Valley Conference this season … Since 1987, the Aces are 8-13 on April 26 and 333-284 in the month of April.
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